Author: The Brülosophy Crew

The last year was another one for the brewing books, and not in the most positive of ways. Focusing too much on the negative isn’t really in the Brülosophy ethos, but neither is ignoring reality, and the hard truth is that the brewing and beer industry is struggling. Despite all the hopes many of us held for 2025, it started off with the surprising announcement that the American Homebrewers Association would be parting ways with Brewer’s Association, and while there’s plenty of optimism about this newfangled level of independence, it’ll take some time to see what kind of impact these substantial structural changes will actually have.

Sadly, we’ve seen several more highly respected breweries and homebrew shops go belly-up due to lack of customers and rising cost of goods. The announcement that F.H. Steinbart, the oldest homebrew shop in the United States, could be closing after 108 years of continuous operation hit especially close to home, as they’re not only contributor Jordan Folks’ LHBS, but they also sponsored Brülosophy by providing him with the ingredients for nearly every xBmt he brewed over the last few years.

As difficult as it is to not look back longingly at the days before COVID, we’re committed to trudging through these challenging times and doing our part to keep this hobby alive. This has already proven to require an openness to change that has, at times, been uncomfortable and even scary, as it feels impossible to predict which way the tide is turning these days. Still, we’re staying the course with our eyes focused on a future that may very well look different than a decade ago, but is filled with people who posses a strong passion for home-fermentation, whether it traditional beer styles or hard seltzer. Hell, we may even dip our toes into non-beverage fermentations, only time will tell.

Seeing as this marks the first article of 2026, we thought we’d kick things off by sharing some of our goals for the coming year, which we’ve dorkily termed BRÜ Year’s Resolutions. While Brülosophy regulars are likely aware of certain things that have happened over the last year or so, our hope with the following resolutions is to offer more of an inside look at some specifics, share some of what we’ve each got planned for our individual brewing futures, and maybe motivate others to come up with their own unique ways to sticking with it.

| 2026 BRÜ YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS |

With the exception of bringing The Brü Lab podcast to a close at the end of 2024 so that host, Cade Jobe, could focus on his academic studies (in brewing), things have largely remained the same as it pertains to Brülosophy as a whole. Namely, we’ve maintained a consistent publishing schedule with minimal changes, which is only possible due to the dedication of some of the most committed brewing nerds around. Here are our 2026 BRÜ Year’s Resolutions!

Will Lovell

My primary resolution for 2026 is to work towards growing homebrewing. As a Brülosophy contributor, I recognize the influence solely as a function of the fact we put our voices out there for others to hear, and while we all want to use that voice to keep this hobby alive, that isn’t really what I’m talking about. I want to invite more friends to my brew days, make things more social and fun, which I hope will introduce more people from my local community to this great hobby for the first time, or maybe bring some folks back into the fold.

I also plan to dig into more historical styles. I brewed a Lichtenhainer last year and really enjoyed the experience, so much that it inspired me to commit to dabbling in other age-old styles in 2026. I find both the history of these styles as well as the methods in which they are made fascinating, evoking notions of romanticism within me.

Finally, I want to broaden my horizons a bit when it comes to ingredients. While I’ll certain continue using the standards, I’m curious to explore things like malted rice and the various grains used to produce gluten-free beers, as well as novel hop products and unique methods for imparting wood and smoke flavor.

Jordan Folks

I love the beer I’ve been brewing over the last year, but the more I think about it, the more I realize I’m in a bit of a brewing rut. It seems like every other beer I’ve brewed lately oscillates between two styles – pale European lager and hoppy West Coast lager. Lather, rinse, repeat. I’ve also been using Imperial Yeast L13 Global and only German Pils malt in pretty much every batch.

My resolution for 2026 is to brew more styles using a wider variety of ingredients. I want to brew more Belgians. I want to use more character malts. I want to brew some malty beers. Dark beers. Strong beers. I want to experiment with more yeast strains including some really expressive ones! My sour program has also stalled, so it’s time to jump-start it back to life! I’ve been brewing for quite a long time at this point, but 2026 will be a year of brewing exploration!

Alex Shanks-Abel

I’ve been chasing fancy brewing gadgets a bit too hard over the last couple of years. While it’s been undeniably fun to cobble together a DIY window AC glycol system, build a coffin box keezer, and amass a small hoard of brewing trinkets, those shiny toys have distracted me from the brewing process itself. In 2026, I want to return to a simpler setup, one that gives me space to rebuild a more intimate relationship with both my process and my ingredients.

I’m thinking of 2026 as a year of building and nurturing, in a very literal sense. My spouse and I will be meeting our firstborn very soon. As the primary caretaker, I’m hoping to spend plenty of time in a rocking chair, catching up on brewing literature. Not just scientific papers on brewer’s yeast, I want to revisit classic books like How To Brew and The Complete Joy of Homebrewing – both to fill in blind spots and to see how my perspective has changed over the past decade.

To make it easier to squeeze in a brew day during baby naps, we recently had builders transform our garage from an electrified shed into a kickass brewing space – a stainless sink tied into the sewer, 240V outlets, epoxy floors, and a minisplit. I’ve brewed a couple of times on my new Brewzilla Gen 4 units, and the speed difference compared to my old 120V, cramped kitchen setup is dramatic. When I keep the gadgets to a minimum, cleanup is fast and painless. Despite the obvious upgrade in space, it feels like a cozy return to my pre-Brülosophy brew days in the guest bathroom shower.

It’s not just a newborn that I’ll be babying this year. I also want to revisit my old yeast bank and rebuild relationships with house strains that have been sitting neglected in the back of my hop freezer since I joined Brülosophy. A gaming friend is hooking me up with a retired lab microscope capable of up to 1,000× magnification, and I’m incredibly curious to see how a 6th-generation, pre-COVID culture of Imperial Yeast A09 Pub compares to a fresh 2026 pitch, not just in fermentation character, but possibly even morphology. In the meantime, I’ve been brushing up on my plate-streaking technique.

It’s a little silly, but a big part of my homebrew identity was built around those yeasties. I even gave them names: Moo Dog, Holy Scythe, and Good Intentions – names that mean nothing to anyone else but are deeply sentimental to me. When I design a beer, I start with a name and build the recipe out from there. Many of my recipes were deep-cut references to the yeast behind them, like Two Dog, Oily Scythe, and Bad Intentions. Brewing without that naming foundation has had a surprising ripple effect on the kinds of beers I’ve been making. By cultivating those old strains again, I hope to rebuild that admittedly strange but meaningful relationship with my beers.

And finally, I want to keep doing my part to help The Brü Club stay alive and thriving. These folks rock. There’s no group I’d rather share brew day disasters or homebrew shower thoughts with!

Steve Thanos

For my 2026 BRÜ Year’s Resolution, I’m taking a reverse psychology approach and saying that I will not be brewing more lagers. Why? Because at the start of pretty much every year since I started brewing, I’ve told myself I was going to make more lager styles, yet I never end up getting around, leaving me with very few under my belt. So, this year, I refuse to commit to brewing more lagers, which I’m hopeful means I’ll actually brew more lagers!

Brewing more sour beers is definitely a big goal of mine this year, as is integrating my love of cooking, which isn’t going away any time soon, with my passion for beer and brewing. One idea I’ve had involves putting together a 3 to 5 course meal where each course is paired with a beer I brewed. Not only would it feel good to finally check this off of my to-do list, but I have a feeling it’d make by friends happy, too.

Martin Keen

In 2025, I had the chance to brew a type of beer I’d never attempted before – non-alcoholic beer. Despite my initial skepticism, I was pleasantly surprised with how well it turned out, so that set the tone for 2026 – my goal is to brew more styles of beer that have so far passed me by. First up on my list is Ginger Beer, partially due to wanting to see how it turns out, and partially because Ginger Beer videos seem to do numbers on YouTube! You’ll all be able to see how that one turns out on The Brülosophy Show in a few months. I’m also eager to play more with combining my two favorite beverages, beer and coffee. Over the last year, my basement gained a growing number of coffee gadgets and I just know they’ll reach their ultimate utilization if put in service of making rockin’ coffee beer! Here’s to a great 2026, and happy new year everyone!

Andy Carter

After a multi-year homebrewing break due to moving into a new home that required a fair amount of remodeling, my 2026 BRÜ Year’s Resolution is to brew at least one batch of beer per quarter. In additon to contributing to Brülosophy, I plan on making beers for events such as the Southern California Homebrew Festival and the Ventura Independent Beer Enthusiasts (VIBE) fall campout. And I’ll definitely be using Short & Shoddy techniques as much as possible!

Cade Jobe

Wait, 2025 is over? Where did it go?

When I made the difficult decision to shutter The Brü Lab in December 2024 to focus on my Ph.D. studies, I was distraught. You can ask Marshall (and my wife) who’ll tell you it was a hard decision, but I needed to do it for myself and my family, as I just couldn’t keep up with life. I wasn’t able to do justice to the podcast while also balancing getting a Ph.D., co-parenting a kindergartner and a three year old, and caring for our ailing 15 year old dog. 2025 was a busy year for me academically as I studied for and passed the two big early Ph.D. exams (qualifying exam and preliminary oral exam), published a paper on Citra hop maturity, and submitted another paper on kilning hops with smoky air, which should be published in early 2026. All of this amidst reports from the BA that beer sales are down, LHBSs shuttering left and right, an announcement that homebrewing as a hobby is down, the AHA cutting out on its own, Rogue Brewing Company (Dead Guy Ale) announcing bankruptcy— I gave up lawyering for this?? Geez!

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Hell yes I gave up lawyering for this because I LOVE being a beer nerd! I love reading the stuff on Brulosophy.com and can’t help cracking up at Martin’s antics on The Brülosophy Show. Hearing Marshall’s velvet voice each week on The Brülosophy Podcast keeps me grounded. I love attending beer conferences, witnessing the creativity and brilliance of the homebrewing and beer industries.

You’re not getting a Debbie Downer from me. I hustled in 2025. My 2026 goal is to sit back, relax, and enjoy the things that I love about beer. In my academic career, I get to Think Beer and Teach Beer, which is what it’s always been about for me. IT’S FUN!! As I read through the other contributors’ resolutions, I see themes about returning to what they like about the hobby. So let’s do it. In 2026, let’s relax and have a beer.

Marshall Schott

As I recall it, my wife began expressing interest in moving to a new home around the time COVID was ramping up, one reason being that Brülosophy had outgrown the space, as had our kids, and a certain obnoxiously inconsiderate neighbor only served as further motivation. Still, we loved our home and knew that we’d only leave if the new place checked every box on our must-have list. Given how picky we were, not much popped up that was of interest. We made a couple offers on homes that also required us to make a few concessions, but they ultimately fell through. Then, in November of 2024, we viewed a house on a whim that had just hit the market. Based on the listing, it hit pretty much every mark, which we’d seen before, so I wasn’t terribly optimistic. However, the feeling I had as soon as we walked into the open house was different. After spending nearly an hour checking the place out, my wife and I made our way to the car where we immediately agreed this was the one and contacted our realtor. And thus began the dance that is buying a home… or so we thought. Just as we were going to submit our initial offer, we got word the sellers already accepted a full-asking offer. Oh well. Except a few days later, we learned that offer fell through, so we were back in the game, baby! After some thrilling negotiation (my wife disagrees), they accepted our offer and the reality that we’d moving after 14 years in the same place began to hit – not only was this the only home our kids knew, but it’s where Brülosophy was born. How would this major life change affect all of these things that matter so much to me?

One of the big selling points of our new home was that it had a separate small garage that connected to a private office space, both of which would be entirely dedicated to Brülosophy. Score! Finally, I wouldn’t have to move my kids’ junk to brew or schedule podcast recording around when my family wasn’t using the shared office. The idea of having both a dedicated brewing space and recording studio was enough to soothe the sentimental pain I felt from leaving a home that held such meaningful memories. But I was excited to build new memories in our new place!

My initial focus was on building out my studio, a process that took a bit more effort than I originally expected, though I’m happy to report is now complete. Sadly, this forced me to delay the brewery build, which has resulted in me not being able to brew in my own space for far too long. But that’s going to change soon! Back in October, Tim and I got to work building a sturdy brew bench, after which I made it look pretty by applying a couple coats of black paint. The holidays slowed me down a bit, but I’ve already called an electrician to come out and run 240v power for my Clawhammer Supply 10 gallon unit. I still need to test out my glycol chiller, but worst-case, I’ve got a large chest freezer I can easily use as a chamber. From there, I’ll just need to stock up on some ingredients, get my water properly tested, and I’ll be ready to roll.

So, my 2026 BRÜ Year’s Resolution can be summed up pretty simply: BREW MORE! 

Happy New Year to all of our amazing fans! Even with the challenges this industry has faced recently, we’re well aware that (most of) our readers, listeners, and viewers continue to appreciate the effort we put into this gig, and we want to make sure our appreciation of that is well known. If you have a BRÜ Year’s Resolution, please share it with us in the comments section below, we’d love to hear what your plans are for the coming year!

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